Thursday, February 09, 2006

So, I didn't watch the Grammy's last night. But on the radio into work I heard that U2 pretty much cleaned house. I like U2; and while Bono has some views I don't agree with entirely, I really respect the way he approaches the issues. It shouldn't be argued there aren't any big-named entertainers more active in pursuing issues than U2's lead singer. But he does it very well, very tactifully, very appropriately.Then there's Kanye. Mr. West (not Adam West from the original Batman series on TV) was also up for Album of the Year. He didn't get it. I'm glad. I ain't saying he's a worth-e-less; but he ain't playin' with no full decka.If the cards don't line up for him or how he thinks they should be, boom, blame the man. From his own words, Kanye's the guy everyone hated in high school because he was always whining about how bad things that happened were someone else's fault. A couple quotes from Mr. West:On July 1, 2005, West appeared in Philly as part of Live 8 and used this global venue to say AIDS is a "man-made diseases placed in African communities,". This quote is in reference to the belief that AIDS was introduced to Africa by the U.S. government through the polio vaccine.He has accused American politicians of insensitivity, claiming they "...[ride] home in their Benzes and Bentleys while poor Africans starve." The ironic thing is Kanye has sweet cars himself and isn't exactly intimately familiar with being poor or black America's economic struggle. In actuality, his mom was a distinguished doctor and Kanye was born into a family that is rather prosperous.And of course, who can forget the episode at the Concert for Hurricane Relief (a joke in and of itself, in my opinion) when he uttered the infamous lines "it's been five days (without federal help) because most of the people are black...America is setup to help the poor, the black people, the less well off, as slow as possible I mean" followed by "George Bush doesn't care about black people."Kanye's reminds me of the kid in high school on the football team who, because he never got any playing time, was sure the coaching staff, players, parents and even administration didn't like him; and that's why he wasn't getting any PT. It due to the fact he never worked out in the off-season; or that he dogged it in drills; or that he didn't memorize the playbook; or that he smart-mouthed the coaches; or that he missed practice sometimes; or that he violated training rule. And, in spite of his complaining and accusing, that kid never got any PT.If Kanye reads this, he'll probably think President Bush put me up to it.He's right.W and I are tight like that.